The Internet is growing by leaps and bounds. Everyday, more and more users log on to the Internet for the first time and these, and existing users are finding more and more content being made available to them. Whether it be for shopping, checking stock prices or communicating with friends, the Internet represents a universal medium for communications and commerce.
Unfortunately, the growing user base along with the growing content provider base is causing ever increasing congestion and strain on the infrastructure, the network hardware and software plus the communications links linking it all together, which makes up the Internet. While the acronym xe2x80x9cWWWxe2x80x9d is defined as xe2x80x9cWorld Wide Webxe2x80x9d, many users of the Internet have come to refer to it as the xe2x80x9cWorld Wide Wait.xe2x80x9d
These problems are not limited to the Internet either. Many companies provide internal networks, known as intranets, which are essentially private Internets for use by their employees. These intranets can become overloaded as well. Especially, when a company""s intranet provides connectivity to the Internet. In this situation, the intranet is not only carrying internally generated traffic but also Internet traffic generated by the employees.
Furthermore, more and more malicious programmers are setting there sights on the Internet. These xe2x80x9chackersxe2x80x9d spread virus programs or attempt to hack into Web sites in order to steal valuable information such as credit card numbers. Further, there have been an increasing number of Denial of Service attacks where a hacker infiltrates multiple innocent computers connected to the Internet and uses them, unwittingly, to bombard a particular Web site with an immense volume of traffic. This flood of traffic overwhelms the servers and literally shuts the Web site down.
Accordingly, there is a need for an enhanced Internet infrastructure to more efficiently deliver content from providers to users and provide additional network security and fault tolerance.
The present invention is defined by the following claims, and nothing in this section should be taken as a limitation on those claims. By way of introduction, the preferred embodiments described below relate to an apparatus for facilitating communications between a client and a first server over a network, where the network comprises a first sub-network comprising the client. The apparatus comprises a request interceptor coupled with the first sub-network and operative to selectively intercept a first request generated by the client to the first server prior to receipt by the first server. The apparatus also includes a request transmitter operative to transmit the intercepted first request to the first server as if originated by the apparatus. In addition, the apparatus includes a response receiver operative to receive a response from the first server in response to the originated intercepted first request. In addition, the apparatus includes a response transmitter operative to transmit said response to said client. Finally, the apparatus includes a request filter coupled between the request interceptor and the request transmitter and operative to selectively filter the intercepted first request prior to the request transmitter acting on the request.
The preferred embodiments further relate to a method for facilitating communications between a client and a first server over a network where the network comprises a first sub-network comprising the client. The method comprises: intercepting, selectively, a first data transmission generated by the client to the first server prior to receipt by the first server; filtering the selectively intercepted first data transmission; originating the filtered selectively intercepted first data transmission to the first server; receiving a response from the first server in response to the originated filtered selectively intercepted first data transmission; and transmitting the response to the client.